[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: What is a high concept idea?
Corey Mandell, Screenwriter and Screenwriting Instructor: I’ll try to answer it but I actually think it’s a total mistake to think that way. What I was taught and I think what most people are taught is a high concept is bigger, Bigger is better!A high concept is a concept that’s so exciting that people are going to want to buy this, they don’t even need to see the characters or the script, just that concept is great. A classic example people will give is Jaws which was a huge blockbuster movie or people talk about Breaking Bad. Look there’s a lot of different people out there, everyone has their opinion and different people resonate with you. I personally will ignore anyone who says that and I will suspect they’ve never had a career as a writer. I’ve sold a lot of pitches, I’ve helped writers sell pitches. First off, here’s the concept of Jaws and just pretend Jaws didn’t exist and I came in and you’re an executive and here I pitch at you.
Alright, so there’s a shark and it’s like killing people and these three guys get on a boat and they have to go kill the shark.
Are you like Oh my God! That’s the best idea ever!
No, I mean Jaws was hugely successful so they use it as an example but that concept, it’s an interesting concept. Breaking Bad, that’s such a great concept. People would buy it in the room. That’s really interesting information about Vince Gilligan because he pitched that everywhere in town for four years and everyone passed. So if that’s such a high concept that everyone would buy it, that’s really interesting. Here’s the thing…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
About:
Corey Mandell is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter who has written projects for Ridley Scott, Wolfgang Petersen, Harrison Ford, John Travolta, Warner Brothers, Universal, 20th Century Fox, Fox 2000, Fox Family, Working Title, Paramount, Live Planet, Beacon Films, Touchstone, Trilogy, Radiant and Walt Disney Pictures.
Corey teaches screenwriting via private online classes using video conferencing to allow participants to see and hear each other in real time. His highly popular classes draw students from across the US, Europe and Australia.
His students have gone on to sell or option scripts to Warner Brothers, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Disney, Fox, Fox 2000, MGM, Universal, USA Network and Lifetime. Others have gained admission to the USC Graduate Screenwriting Program, the AFI Conservatory Screenwriting Program and Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab.
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